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Health Alert Now a Recall for NY Gourmet Salads

In what is now a Class I recall for a high health risk, NY Gourmet Salads, Inc., a deli supplier and caterer in Brooklyn, is recalling various meat and poultry products that were produced without federal inspection, the Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced Thursday.

The company’s ready-to-eat deli products were also the subject of a public health alert issued on Oct. 30. After a continued investigation by FSIS, the firm recalled its products.

NY Gourmet Salads and the government have been at odds for months, and the U.S. Department of Justice announced in August that it was seeking a permanent injunction against the company and its president, Leonard F. Spada.

In the complaint filed in U.S. District Court in July, the defendants were charged with selling food that was prepared, packed, or held under unsanitary conditions and that may have become contaminated with filth or may have been injurious to health.

Regulators said then that NY Gourmet Salads promised to address and correct deficiencies following inspections in 2006, 2007, and 2009, but that the most recent inspection in March 2010 confirmed that the company continued to operate without adequate controls.

The government said its testing had found Listeria monocytogenes throughout the manufacturing facility in 2009, indicating the bacteria had likely formed a lasting presence in the plant.

In its Thursday news release, the USDA said the following products are subject to recall:

•4.5-pound and 5-pound containers of “Lemon Grilled Chicken”

•4.5-pound and 5-pound containers of “Meatballs”

•4.5-pound and 5-pound containers of “Meatballs and Sauce”

•4.5-pound and 5-pound containers of “Swedish Meatballs”

•5-pound containers of “Sausage and Peppers”

•4.5-pound and 5-pound containers of “Chicken Salad”

•5-pound containers of “Grilled Chicken”

•5-pound containers of “Grilled Chicken, Plain”

•4.5-pound and 5-pound containers of “Breaded Chicken”

•6-pound containers of “Stuffed Cabbage”

•5-pound containers “Teriyaki Grilled Chicken”

•5-pound containers “Chopped Chicken Liver”

The products were produced between March 11 and Oct. 29, 2010, and were distributed to retail establishments in New York. Labeling information on the products is currently unknown, unless otherwise noted above, and may or may not bear the N.Y. Gourmet Salads Inc. label with the establishment number “P-34440” or “Est. 34440” inside the USDA mark of inspection.

A retail distribution list(s) is available on the <a href="http://www.fsis.usda.gov/FSIS_Recalls/

Open_Federal_Cases/index.asp.”>FSIS’ website.

FSIS said it has received no reports of illness due to consumption of these products.

It can unfortunately take 4 years to build the paper trail and subsequently the criminal case due to a variety of factors. I assure you that there were more than 4 inspections done also. They probably meant Food Safety Assessments, routine Listeria Monocytogenes sampling and followups of both. These aren’t done as frequently and are performed in addition to daily inspection. If EIAO’s visited and did FSA and RLm 4 times, then the inspector-in-charge was finding failures to correct noncompliances found in the original visit. In other words, the plant owner didn’t want to fix it until his back was against the wall. Happens all to often in this business. 🙁
It’s a horribly, long slow process which can be drug out even longer if the establishment doesn’t run USDA product everyday (less product to inspect in that case).